Email open rates at a two-year high according to Q2 2016 North America email trend results

October 27th

DALLAS – October 27, 2016 – Epsilon®, a global leader in creating connections between people and brands, today released the Q2 2016 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks report. The report shows that email open rates continue to rise with business as usual (BAU) emails reporting open rates of 35.6% in Q2 2016, higher than any other quarter in a two-year period (Q2 2014 – Q2 2016).

“Marketers are laser-focused on measuring and optimizing programs and tactics to drive business growth and email marketing remains one of the most effective channels for marketers to reach their customers,” shared Judy Loschen, Senior Vice President, Strategic Consulting at Epsilon. “The optimal way to leverage the email channel is by uncovering customer insights to deliver a personalized message that will reach customers at the most opportune time and make a lasting impression, and to do this in concert with other marketing channels for a seamless brand experience.”

Business as usual methodology and email trends

The quarterly BAU analysis was compiled from 8.5 billion emails sent in North America by approximately 150 Epsilon clients in Q2 (April – June) 2016 across multiple industries.

Key findings from the Q2 2016 report include:

The Q2 2016 open rate of 35.6% was above Q1 2016 (33.3%) and notably higher than Q2 2015 (30.5%)

Click rates for Q2 2016 showed good performance at 3.5%, in line with Q1 2016 (3.4%) but slightly lower than Q2 2015 (3.6%)

In Q2 2016, the Financial Services – General industry drove the highest open rates across the twelve industries analyzed in the report with a 53.7% open rate. Consumer Publishing/Media – General saw the highest click rates (5.2%) and the highest click-to-open rates (23.5%).

Triggered message methodology and email trends

Triggered message benchmarks were analyzed from approximately 350 million triggered emails sent between April 2014 and June 2016 across multiple industries. Results track campaigns deployed as a result of a consumer action such as welcome, abandon shopping cart, thank you or confirmation.

Key findings from Q2 2016 triggered message research include:

Triggered messages accounted for 3.0% of total email volume in Q2 2016, in line with last quarter but lower than Q2 2015 (4.3%)

Triggered open rates were 61.7% higher than BAU in Q2 2016. This is notably lower than the Q2 2015 lift of 78.7% over BAU

Triggered click rates continued to outperform BAU, reporting 141.6% higher. This is a dip from Q2 2015 when triggered click rates showed a 233.4% lift over BAU.

In line with last quarter, the Consumer Products – Pharmaceutical industry was most effective at engaging subscribers through triggered emails compared to BAU rates in Q2 2016, with open rates 164.4% higher and click rates 908.2% higher than BAU messages.

Epsilon is a global leader in creating connections between people and brands. An all-encompassing global marketing company, we harness the power of rich data, groundbreaking technologies, engaging creative and transformative ideas to get the results our clients require. Recognized by Ad Age as the #1 World’s Largest CRM/Direct Marketing Network, #1 Largest U.S. Agency from All Disciplines and #1 Largest U.S. Mobile Marketing Agency, Epsilon employs over 7,000 associates in 70 offices worldwide. Epsilon is an Alliance Data company. For more information, visit epsilon.com, follow us on Twitter @EpsilonMktg or call 800 309 0505.